Children's home run by Keys Education Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 1 SC386522 Registered provider: Keys Education Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately run. It provides care for up to three children who may have social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager in place. The current manager is to apply to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/04/2021 Full Good 22/10/2019 Full Good 08/10/2018 Full Outstanding 28/11/2017 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they love their home and the staff. Children are fully involved in the running of the home and contribute to the warm and homely environment by choosing decorations and furnishings. Children are regularly consulted about the things that matter to them and about their experiences of living there. They are looking forward to making the most of their new ‘she shed’, which is currently being prepared as an additional place in the garden to relax and enjoy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are strong advocates for children. They challenge decisions made about children’s education, based on their knowledge of local schools, so that children’s individual needs are met. Staff support children to engage in home-based education and learning activities until arrangements are made for them to start at a new school. Children’s successes are celebrated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities. They see the people who are important to them, and their friends are welcomed when they come to visit. Staff make every effort to create a family atmosphere and children enjoy having pets.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff encourage children to develop their independence skills to prepare them for moving to their own accommodation. Children’s views are captured as part of planning for this important change in their lives. They keep in touch and visit after they have moved on.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children can access therapeutic input to support their emotional well-being. If direct work is not required, the staff are supported by clinical supervision to enhance their practice. Some clinical summary reports contain unhelpful language about children’s experiences. There is no evidence that this has been reviewed and challenged by managers. More recent reports are more child centred.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans are written in the voice of the child, and children contribute to them. However, some documents contain outdated terms and could be more child friendly.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children talk about how the staff have helped them to become safer and reflect on how they have changed in positive ways. They feel they can talk to staff about any worries or concerns that they may have. As a result, risks to the safety of children who currently live at the home have reduced.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Risk management plans are clear, with strategies that staff follow to reduce any risks or vulnerabilities that children may experience. However, some records on children’s files were not signed to demonstrate that they had been read and understood by staff. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 4 The staff consistently apply boundaries. Children generally respond to these well and, therefore, consequences are rarely used.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The staff appropriately challenge and escalate when there are concerns about children’s safety, including risks relating to children who live elsewhere. There is clear multi-agency working to take action to safeguard children. However, the manager did not inform Ofsted of a serious concern about a child in a timely way. This restricts Ofsted’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Risks to children’s health, such as smoking, have reduced. Staff work directly with children to help them to understand the effects of smoking, alcohol and illegal substances on their well-being.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Some maintenance issues, including a fire door and some shelving, were addressed during the inspection to ensure that children live in a safe environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous registered manager is now the responsible individual. The deputy has been promoted and is preparing their application to register. The transition has been managed well with little effect on children’s day-to-day experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff team have high aspirations for all children and show pride in children’s achievements. Professionals and parents commented on the positive support the team offers to the children. Managers and staff have good working relationships with other professionals and parents and communicate with them well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel supported by the management team and have access to good-quality training, team meetings and reflective supervision. Staff complete a range of mandatory training and additional training specific to the needs of the children. However, the manager does not yet have access to the staff training matrix for oversight. It is unclear whether a member of staff’s training has lapsed, or if the system has not been updated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision is valued by managers and staff. The supervision matrix is not consistent with the supervision records, and the manager does not have good oversight of all supervision sessions. This could affect the timeliness of information sharing and children’s needs not being met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s workforce development plan does not include all of the required information. The statement of purpose provides information on the home’s aims and objectives, but does not include supervision arrangements for professionals providing therapeutic input. The manager started to address these shortfalls during the inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 5 The views of children and parents are not routinely included in the manager’s quality of care review report, although they are gathered. The independent person’s report has not always provided enough evaluation about how safeguarding incidents are managed, but this has improved over time. These are missed opportunities to include important feedback and demonstrate practice improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 22 January 2023

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h) 22 January 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 7 This relates to ensuring that there is management oversight specifically in relation to ensuring that staff read and understand children’s risk management plans, that staff are completing training within timescales, and that staff supervision records are available and monitored to ensure they are of good quality.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report"). (Regulation 45 (3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the report should capture the feedback of children and parents. 22 January 2023

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person provides effective evaluation of action taken in response to any safeguarding incidents within the regulation 44 report. (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The registered person should ensure that records about children are clear, use current terminology and are written in a way that is non-judgemental and helpful for children. (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that the statement of purpose includes supervision arrangements of professionals providing therapy, in accordance with schedule 1. (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 14, paragraph 3.5)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce plan includes the

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Recommendations

workforce-related requirements of regulation 16 and schedule 1. (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that any repairs are identified and completed in a timely manner to ensure that children live in a safe environment. (‘The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 8 the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Keys Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Second Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Inspectors

Karen Willson, Social Care Inspector Jenni Gadsby, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC386522 10 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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